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Save The Prions!

24 comments May 30th, 2007at 06:03pm Posted by Eli

Well, the Bush Department Of Agriculture (I’ll just call it “DOA” for short) has taken a stand on mad cow disease, and is prepared to go to the mattresses… to defend it.

Offered without comment. What is there possibly to say?

The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Arkansas City-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.

Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.

A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect Friday, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal — effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.

(…)

The Agriculture Department argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry. U.S. District Judge James Robertson noted that Creekstone sought to use the same test the government relies on and said the government didn’t have the authority to restrict it.

Oh, all right. One small comment. First, observe the contempt for liberty. When E. coli conservatives say self-regulation is preferable to government, they’re even lying about that. Second, observe the contempt for small business. When a small company want to – voluntarily! – hold its product to a higher standard, the government blocks it, in part because bigger companies have to be protected from the competition, in part because a theoretical threat to the bottom line (false positives) trumps protection against a deadly disease.

There’s your conservatism, America: not extremism in defense of liberty. State socialism in defense of Mad Cow.

Hey, someone has to look out for Mad Cow’s interests – who better than the Bush Administration? (You know, professional courtesy and all that.)

Just keep this in mind the next time the Republicans tell you that they’re the only ones who can keep Americans safe. They have no interest at all in actually keeping Americans safe; only in the power and money they can accumulate while pretending to keep us safe.

Entry Filed under: Bush,Corruption/Cronyism,Republicans